


Comrades In Arms

by SoYoureClairevoyant



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brotherly Bonding, Domestic, Fluff, M/M, Mild Language, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26241586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoYoureClairevoyant/pseuds/SoYoureClairevoyant
Summary: Phichit spends a week in St. Petersburg with Yuuri and Victor, and they bond like college roommates.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri & Victor Nikiforov, Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Phichit Chulanont & Katsuki Yuuri, Phichit Chulanont & Victor Nikiforov
Comments: 7
Kudos: 69





	Comrades In Arms

**Author's Note:**

> Yep, more domestic fluff from me! I have no chill and no shame. 
> 
> Phichit is legit one of my favorite characters, so when I started thinking about how he and Yuuri met in college, I felt bad Victor didn't get to experience the craziness. 
> 
> This is not beta'd, so I apologize for any typos or inconsistencies.

After many video calls, phone calls, emails between coaches and frequent flyer miles, Phichit finally had a whole week to visit Yuuri and Victor in St. Petersburg. All three skaters were excited at the prospect of reuniting outside of a competition. Yuuri had spent the last week cleaning every inch of his and Victor’s apartment while Victor coordinated private rink time for the three of them and planned a welcome dinner at their favorite restaurant. 

Phichit’s flight was due to arrive late in the morning, and both Yuuri and Victor were there to pick him up from the airport. As soon as he saw Yuuri waiting at the luggage carousel, Phichit broke into a wide grin and a practiced sprint, his hamster beanie hanging precariously off the top of his head.

“Get over here and hug me, Katsuki!”

“Get over here and let me, Chulanot!”

The two young skaters slammed into each and would have toppled had Victor not caught them both. They stood embracing each other for what seemed like hours but was actually only a few minutes before Victor put a gentle hand on Yuuri’s waist to bring him back to the present and also nudge him out of the way to hug Phichit himself. That didn’t stop Yuuri from laughing and keeping an arm around Phichit while the trio made their way out of the busy terminal.

“We brought the car for you, so we don’t have to wait on public transportation. It’s been pretty unreliable lately so we’ve been walking most places. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Are you kidding me? I’m in freaking Russia right now, with my best friend in the world and his idol-turned-fiance and you’re worried my whole trip will be ruined by a luxury vehicle and a little walking later? Just because we don’t all have the famous Katsuki stamina doesn’t mean I’m going to die of a little cardio!"

Yuuri and Phichit continued this kind of banter all the way to Victor’s car, a modest but still luxurious sports car in glossy gray paint. Yuuri loaded Phichit and his luggage into the back while Victor went around to the driver’s seat. He spent most of the drive back to their apartment just listening to Yuuri and Phichit catch up, chattering back and forth like no time had passed since they last saw each other in person.

There was a part of Victor that found their dynamic interesting. They were both younger than Victor, had both attended college, had trained under the same coach and even lived together for almost four years. Their bond was one of long-lost brothers or comrades in arms. Not to say that Victor and Yuuri didn’t also have a profound bond, but he might have been jealous had Phichit not made it clear that since becoming Yuuri’s fiance, Victor was his brother, too. Although, the Thai man did often to Yuuri as his son, so who knew what Victor's new role was going to be in theri dynamic.  


They all made it to the apartment shortly thereafter, and after leaving a quick kiss on Victor’s cheek, Yuuri pulled Phichit into the guest room to help him unpack. Phichit had held back at the airport and in the car, but behind this closed door, his excitement got the best of him.

“Yuuri Katsuki! I am in Russia! I am spending the week training with my best friend in the world and under Victor  _ fucking  _ Nikiforov! How is this my life?!”

He flopped down on the bed where Yuuri was sitting and smiling, just barely containing his own joy.

“Same! It is pretty much the best thing ever.”

“So what are the plans for the week? Besides skating. Not that I don’t love the ice, but I miss seeing your ugly face everyday.”

“Likewise. Though I can’t say I miss your morning breath” Yuuri grinned and raised a hand to deflect the pillow that flew at his face. Laughing, he held it to his stomach so as to keep it out of Phichit’s arsenal of projectiles

“Seriously, though, what’re we doing? I mean have all those snacks and things you asked me to bring, but why would I need them? They’re not either of our diet plans, and I am sure I remember you saying they were disgusting.”

“About that, I want to ask you a favor…”

Phichit smiled expectantly. “I’m listening.”

**********

“Yuuri, what are you two eating? That better not be what I think it is.”

Victor dropped his keys on the table by the door and let Makkachin off his leash. The poodle nose around for treats and upon realizing there were none for him, trotted over to his bed where he lay down and let his tongue roll out of his mouth. Yuuri watched Victor from the sofa where he and Phichit had made a nest of sorts out of blankets. There were strange snacks and candies with American, Thai and Japanese labels, all open and scattered on the coffee table in front of them. Both men looked at each other and bit back laughter at Victor’s reprimand.

“Good sir, I don’t know what you’re talking about,: Yuuri called, popping what looked like a chocolate cookie into his mouth.

“To what could he possibly be referring, Yuuri? Certainly not the rest nest of blankets and snacks we have configured especially for him.”

“Certainly not! He would never be so ungrateful, would you, Vitya?”   


Victor looked mildly irritated and only somewhat amused. “Rest nest? What is this? What have you done to my sofa and --- are those cookies?! Yuuri after all the work we put into your diet plan for this season…”

Yuuri got up and took Victor by the hand, guiding him towards the sofa and picking out a blanket to wrap him in, a soft gray fleece that Victor bought on impulse one day just because he knew Yuuri liked to be cozy. “Vitya, please just relax for a minute and we will explain. Phichit, if you would.”

Phichit got up from the sofa wearing a blanket around his shoulder like a cape before plugging a small USB drive into the TV across the room. A slideshow started behind him with the title “Roommate University.” Yuuri and Phichit each stood to one side of the TV so Victor could read the slides while they spoke.

“Mr. Nikiforov, we are happy to inform you that you have been accepted to the very exclusive Roommate University! For the next week, Professor Katsuki and I, Professor Chulanot, will educate you in the ways of stealing leftovers, calling dibs, cleaning shared social areas and more!"

Yuuri tried his best to put on a serious expression while he continued. “These courses are rigorous, and only the toughest survive to become friends for life. Also, you can’t switch roommates because I put a ring on your finger and Phichit leaves in five days. So, let’s get started!”

Victor sat on the sofa, wrapped in fleece and confusion. For thirty minutes he listened to the professors lecture him on dining room etiquette, how to share chores, when it was appropriate to share food and how to properly cuddle a roommate. It was the weirdest thirty minutes of his life. When the slideshow was over, Yuuri and Phichit beamed, clearly pleased with themselves.

Victor remained sitting on the sofa bundled in the blanket. He stared at the two young men in front of him, wondering how they survived in the real world this long. “So we’re going to live like teenagers without adult supervision in an attempt to recreate memories from when you lived together in Detroit?”

Yuuri’s face fell into something resembling disappointment at Victor's statement, but Phichit - ever the life of the party - only continued beaming.

“We’re gonna make some stories for the three of us! You’re family now, bud!”

“Babe, if you don’t want to---,” Yuuri began before Victor cut him off.

“Let’s do it!”

Victor wrapped himself tighter in the blanket and reached for one of the snacks at hand. Grabbing a handful of fluorescent orange snacks and shoving some in his mouth, he attempted to smile, but the amount of food in his mouth made it impossible. Yuuri could have kissed him for looking so cute, but he knew if he did, Phichit would yell at the both of them for being “more than roommates.” It was not a lecture Yuuri wanted to sit through. Again.

The three of them spent the better part of an hour going back and forth with rules to create a solid list of ten that they all felt would benefit their living together for the next week. Yuuri wrote them all down in a blue notebook that had clearly seen better days and Phichit recorded them along with a few photos and videos of he and Yuuri in their not-so-distant youth on his phone in a new folder shared between the three of them. 

The next few days passed in a blur of skating, reminiscing, playful banter and cheap-but-filling meals that could be cooked on a hotplate or in a microwave. What first horrified and baffled Victor in the beginning of the week delighted him at the end.

Victor’s youth had been dedicated to his schoolwork and his skating. There hadn’t been any question that he would forego university in favor of his skating career. Between Yakov, Lilia, his sponsors and the public’s expectations for him, Victor’s fate was sealed the minute he put on his first pair of skates. He didn’t regret any of it. After all, skating was what brought him to Yuuri, the one person who saw him for who he was and loved him anyway.

Victor loved seeing Yuuri and Phichit regress into theri college personas. The normally shy and silently determined Japanese skater ran his mouth about movies, music and video games (to Victor’s chagrin). He was openly affectionate with both Victor and Phichit, pulling them into warm hugs and sleepy cuddles sessions in the evenings. Victor saw Phichit’s protective instincts come out and could imagine how he had saved Yuuri from one too many drunk escapades on campus. Seeing the two of them like this and sharing in the banter warmed Victor to his very core.

Victor felt himself opening up more, too. He shared stories about what it was like growing up with Yakov and Lilia, feeling stifled creatively and having no say in his own life and career until he moved at 17. He told them about the first time a boy truly broke his heart, and when he started tearing up, the younger men just bundled him in blankets and held him close, rubbing soothing patterns on his arms and back. He told them about finding Makkachin in the streets of St. Petersburg, how he had argued with Yakov about adopting the poodle just when his career was on the rise. Victor hadn’t realized how much he wanted to share until he had roommates -  _ friends  _ \- that genuinely wanted to hear not because he was famous but because they cared.

It was the freedom and connection that Victor had no idea he needed until it was dropped in his lap, and he cherished every second of it. 

Yuuri and Victor made the most of Phichit’s week with them. All of their time at the rink they spent showing off new moves, choreographing step sequences and putting together rough outlines for programs for the next season. Back at the apartment, Victor and Phichit spent countless hours trading embarrassing stories about Yuuri that usually ended with one or both of them making a cuddle pile on top of the Japanese skater as he blushed and groaned about how he hated them both.

Dropping off Phichit at the airport late in the evening on their last day was almost impossible for the three of them to bear. He and Yuuri couldn't seem to break contact for very long. They bumped fists when they loaded the car, held hands during the drive with Yuuri reaching back from the passenger seat, and then clutched each other desperately at the Departures terminal. Victor watched them both as they tried to say goodbyes around the emotion stuck in their throats and the tears in their eyes. Though he was also disappointed that Phichit was leaving, he knew their bond was something different. Phichit had taken care of Yuuri until Victor could do it himself, and Yuuri was Phichit’s family in a foreign country. They would always be more brother than friends, and Victor was totally content with that.

“What do we always say?” Phichit started, still clinging to Yuuri. “It’s never a goodbye-”

“It’s a see-you-later,” Yuuri finished. “Doesn’t mean I’m not gonna miss your stupid face, though.” He was not ready to see his friend go, but he knew there would always be Facetime and WhatsApp, plus the shared folder was begging for more selfies and videos. Assignments for the next season’s Grand Prix Series would be announced in the next few months. There was every chance they would be assigned to the same events. Yuuri took a deep breath and just barely heard Victor clear his throat from behind them. When he spoke, Yuuri could hear the dejection in his fiance’s voice.

“Love, I’m afraid he’s going to miss his flight if you keep holding on.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over the scene we’re making,” Yuuri choked back around the tears that threatened to fall.

Victor gave him a reassuring smile and gently pulled his arms from around Phichit, sliding into an embrace with the Thai skater himself. “Well, then just let me have a turn so it can be your fault we have to pay for his return flight!”

Yuuri stepped back fully and scrubbed the tears out of his eyes with his hoodie sleeve. They had done this numerous times before, but it would never get any easier to see his best friend go.

Victor hugged Phichit warmly, not like a mentor or a host, but like a friend he didn’t know he needed. He didn’t know Phichit as well or as long as Yuuri, but he could see why the Thai skater had taken to his fiance and become his support system. The three of them were going to be very close. They could all feel the invisible strings keeping them together.

Yuuri pulled Victor off Phichit to hold his friend one more time. Phichit laughed and put his mouth right next to Yuuri’s ear.

“It’s a see-you-later, bud. I’ll see you in a few months.”

Yuuri pulled back and nodded thoughtfully at the ground between them. “You better get on that plane before it takes off without you.” Victor slowly came to his side and put his arm around Yuuri in silent support. Phichit looked between the two of them before his face lit up in his trademark spotlight smile.

“Take off without me? Please!” Phichit grabbed his suitcase handle and swung his backpack over his shoulder. “Take it easy, Yuuri. And Victor, thanks for everything.”

“I should be the one thanking you, believe me! Have a safe flight and call when you land.”

Phichit pulled on his hamster beanie and walked backwards toward the terminal, waving until he could no longer see the couple waving back at him.

Victor turned to face Yuuri, who was once more scrubbing the tears from his face. Victor took Yuuri’s hands in his, gently pulling them away so he could kiss the falling tears away. “Oh, solnyshko, are you okay?”

Yuuri took a deep breath and looked into the Russian’s love-filled and concerned eyes. 

“Not right now, no,” He answered truthfully. “But I will be. Eventually.”


End file.
